'Wisdom's confidence is risen thanks to Spurs'

When he was younger, Wisdom was in foster care, did not want to go to school and had no self-confidence.

"I was a bit stressed and didn't really know what path to follow," he says.

It was then that he discovered the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation's To Care Is To Do programme - and it was something that changed his life.

Mentors working on the scheme, which is designed to help children in care and care leavers in the community, provide support to help participants improve their academic ability, make them more employable and lead healthy and active lifestyles.

"Every Wednesday I used to go to study club, where I could do all my homework without distractions," Wisdom explained.

"There were financial workshops which helped me manage my money and drama workshops as well, which helped boost my confidence."

Wisdom made rapid progress and was rewarded for his efforts recently when he won a Haringey Outstanding For All Award for academic achievement after overcoming adversity.

Wisdom's mentor Nikky could not praise his efforts highly enough.

"When Wisdom started on the programme three years ago, I found that he was very bright but was also very shy and very timid.

"Now that Wisdom's come through the programme, there's been a change in him and I find that his confidence is much higher.

"I think Wisdom’s a really bright boy. I think he's really lovely, he's one of our most consistent attendees for the project and he’s one of those young people that I really hope goes on to do really well in life."

Wisdom now hopes to go on to study maths at university and says: "I'm very thankful for what Nikky and the team have done for me - they've helped me a lot.

"I think this programme is brilliant because it's helped me."

See: Wisdom's story